Same sex marriage bill: What does it mean?
February 2, 2012
UW Tacoma will host a forum to discuss the same-sex marriage bill on Feb. 6.
On Feb. 1, the Washington State Senate passed a bill to make same-sex marriage legal in Washington. The measure now moves to the House, where supporters say they have the votes to pass it as early as next week. From there, Gov. Chris Gregoire has promised to sign it, making Washington the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.
But what does it mean to the citizens of the state?
A panel hosted by the Division of Student Affairs and the Diversity Resource Center will consider the policy changes of making same-sex marriage legal in Washington at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 in William Philip Hall on the UW Tacoma campus.
- Peter Callaghan, a journalist with The News Tribune, will moderate the panel discussion. Other members of the panel include:
- Stephen Pidgeon, an Everett attorney and activist who is leading the effort to put an initiative on the ballot to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman
- David Ward, attorney for Legal Voice, an organization that works for women's and girls' rights
- Sarah Cherin, lecturer at the UW School of Social Work and political and public policy director for United Food and Commercial Workers 21
- Ryan Mello, Pierce County conservation director for the Cascade Land Conservancy and member of the Tacoma City Council.
-
Joseph Backholm, executive director at Family Policy Institute of Washington, "a coalition of allied national and local organizations to create public policy that recognizes and respects the signficance and sanctity of the family," according to the organization's mission statement.
Some points to consider:
The historic bill would recognize same-sex marriages from the six other states where it is sanctioned. Out-of-state couples would be allowed to marry in Washington.
In 2009 the state passed the "everything-but-marriage" law, affording the same legal protections as marriage to registered same-sex partners. Senate Bill 6239 would require those registered by the state in domestic partnerships to get married or dissolve their unions by June 2014, or the state would automatically convert their unions to state-recognized marriages.
The domestic partnership law that passed in 2009 also allowed straight couples to register and receive the same legal protections as marriage, as long as at least one of the partners was over age 62. The same-sex bill would allow continuation of domestic partnerships of straight and same-sex couples with at least one partner over 62.
Opponents of same-sex marriage say they will collect the more than 120,000 signatures necessary to put a referendum repealing the law on the November ballot. If enough signatures are not filed by June, the law goes into effect and same-sex marriages will be legal.
For more information, contact the Department of Student Involvement at 253-692-4481 or uwtsi@uw.edu or the Diversity Resource Center at 253-692-4776 or divrescn@uw.edu.
Media contact:
Beth Luce, Communication Services, 253-692-4881, bethluce@uw.edu 
